The compensation for bowl directors "continues to increase" with at least seven bowl games paying their top official "more than $500,000" in FY '14, according to tax forms cited by Jon Solomon of CBSSPORTS.com. Ten years ago, "no bowl director exceeded $500,000." Tax forms show that the "highest-paid bowl director" in '14-15 appeared to be the Goodyear Cotton Bowl's Rick Baker, who made $994,065 in total compensation. Next was the Outback Bowl's Jim McVay who made $863,222. In '14, the "average compensation for bowl directors at the Outback, Sugar, Fiesta/Insight, Orange, Emerald, Alamo, Gator, Capital One/Champs Sports, Cotton, Rose, Holiday/Poinsettia, Music City, Sun and Independence was $522,439." When "factoring inflation, that is up" from $237,179 in '01 and $356,578 in '05. A '14 study by Charity Navigator shows that the "median salaries for some bowl directors is often significantly higher than that for a nonprofit chief executive." Out of the 3,929 charities studied, 67 "paid their CEO" between $500,000 and $1M. The median compensation for CEOs of charities with expenses between $13.5-25M was $221,777. Some bowl executives are "paid in part from nonprofit organizations that support the game and other events." Bowls often "cite money they donate to charities, the tourism dollars they bring in for cities during a down time of the year, and national exposures for communities on TV broadcasts." Tax records show the Allstate Sugar Bowl "continued to have the biggest war chest" in '14 with $70M in net assets. The Capital One Orange Bowl was next at $55.1M. Financial records for "privately-owned bowls are not available." Finances for individual bowls are "all over the map." For example, the Foster Farms Bowl lost a combined $1.3M on its games from '12-14 and its "net assets decreased" to minus-$769,619 in '15 (CBSSPORTS.com, 12/29).
